Arrival at Cocoyasi Village

On the sixth day after leaving Baratie.

Can Yue and the others would soon arrive at Cocoyasi Village.

Everyone sat around the dining table, eating the lunch Sanji had prepared.

With fish, meat, and huge bones, Luffy ate until his face was covered in grease.

Everyone had long since grown used to Luffy's table manners.

Sanji muttered to himself with a lovestruck look on his face.

"What would Miss Nami's hometown be like?

It must smell wonderful."

Usopp looked at him disdainfully. "What do those two sentences have to do with each other?"

Nami merely smiled faintly. Her mood seemed to have improved considerably today.

She looked at Can Yue. "Can I finish Arlong off myself?"

"You can." Can Yue answered directly.

Zoro, seated beside Can Yue, took a large gulp of wine. The corners of his mouth lifted, as if he was looking forward to it.

"I heard Fish-Men are pretty strong. I wonder if any of them are swordsmen."

Can Yue considered it briefly before replying to Zoro, "When fighting the swordsmen here, you may only use one sword."

Zoro looked disdainful when he heard that. "Well, now that you've said that, I've lost interest."

Johnny and Joseph reminded him, "Big Brother, you only have one sword left."

Just as everyone was enjoying their meal, Chouchou suddenly began barking toward the outside.

With a slight use of his senses, Can Yue immediately knew what had happened.

A massive sea beast had blocked the Going Merry's path.

Everyone walked out of the dining room and saw a gigantic sea cow whose head alone was as large as the Going Merry.

The sea cow let out a roar at everyone aboard the Going Merry.

A powerful stench blew from between its sharp teeth and gaping jaws toward them.

Faced with that horrifying sight, Usopp, Nami, Johnny, and Joseph fought back their nausea as they huddled together in terror.

The instant Sanji saw what the four of them were doing, he flew into a rage, flames nearly bursting from his forehead.

"Bastards, who told you to hold Miss Nami?"

With that, he kicked them all away, one by one.

After dealing with the three men, Sanji lit a cigarette and looked at the sea cow.

"What is this guy here for?"

Can Yue naturally knew. "Food."

"Oh, got it." Sanji blew out a smoke ring and headed toward the kitchen.

The cook's professional standards were indeed high, but the moment Moumou opened its mouth and tried to swallow Sanji along with the food he had brought it...

Sanji abandoned his so-called professional ethics and kicked Moumou flying with a single blow.

Because of that, Zoro mocked Sanji for a long time.

In the mere two and a half hours before arriving at Cocoyasi Village, the two of them got into five full-blown brawls.

Their noisy, boisterous atmosphere gradually helped the somewhat tense Nami relax.

Cocoyasi Village was located on a large island in the East Blue.

It was one of the island's many villages.

Eight years ago, the Fish-Man Pirates, led by Fish-Man Arlong, arrived on this island.

With physical abilities far surpassing those of humans, they quickly established themselves as the rulers of the place.

In their eyes, humans were merely pigs and sheep to be exploited.

Any human unable to pay the protection fee was killed.

That included Nami's adoptive mother, Bellemere.

At that moment, Arlong of the Fish-Man Pirates was having a lively conversation with Captain Nezumi from an East Blue Marine branch.

Arlong appeared quite friendly as he thanked Captain Nezumi.

"This is this month's payment. Please take it."

Captain Nezumi weighed the Beli in his hand and replied with a gratified expression.

"Shishishi, Brother Arlong is as reliable as ever."

The two exchanged a few casual pleasantries.

Just as he was about to leave, Captain Nezumi suddenly remembered something. He turned back to Arlong and said,

"A new pirate crew has risen in the East Blue recently. You know about them, right?"

Arlong said disdainfully,

"What is there to pay attention to about a human pirate crew?"

Because of the conflict between Fish-Men and humans, Arlong and the others had an intense aversion to keeping track of human affairs.

They generally forced themselves to look through the newspapers only once every two or three months.

If they had not needed to understand humans in order to seek revenge against them, they likely would never have been willing to read human newspapers in their lives.

Seeing how arrogant Arlong was, Captain Nezumi had originally not wanted to warn him.

But on second thought, he only got so much extra profit because Arlong was here.

He truly could not let this guy get himself killed.

"Arlong, remember this: if you encounter the Straw Hat Pirates, it'd be best not to provoke them."

At those words, Arlong and his many underlings, including Hachi, burst into laughter.

"As long as they're a human pirate crew, they're trash in the eyes of us Fish-Men."

"What if that pirate crew defeated Buggy?"

The entire place fell silent.

"What do you mean? That Buggy? He was defeated?"

That information instantly made Arlong sit up straight.

Captain Nezumi sneered inwardly.

Human pirate crews were all trash? Why were they so nervous the moment Buggy was mentioned?

However, even as a branch captain, he did not know the full details of how the Straw Hat Crew had defeated Buggy. He only remembered what the newspaper had said.

"The Straw Hat Pirates used a strategy, and all their members worked together to defeat Buggy, the overlord of the East Blue."

When Arlong, Hachi, and the many Fish-Men heard that,

their tense hearts eased somewhat.

Arlong pondered.

If we trick Buggy out to sea with a strategy, then attack him together from underwater, we should be able to defeat him too.

With that thought, Arlong regained his confident smile.

"If that pirate crew doesn't provoke us, then there will be peace.

But if they come knocking, we'll let them experience the terror of the Fish-Men."

"Sha~ hahahaha!"

Seeing this, Captain Nezumi said no more. He turned around and left with his men.

On the way back, Captain Nezumi wore a cunning smile.

"The Straw Hat Pirates must be very strong, but the Fish-Man Pirates aren't weak either.

If they fight, perhaps I can reap the benefits without lifting a finger.

Shishishishi~"

"Wow, we're here, we're here!"

Luffy sat on his personal sheep head and stretched lazily.

"Nami, is that your hometown?"

Nami took a deep breath and looked at the village beyond the dock.

"Yeah, that's my hometown, Cocoyasi Village."

Luffy chuckled, jumped onto the deck, and rhythmically slapped his stomach with both hands.

"Land, go ashore, Nami, treat us to food!"

The moment he finished speaking, Zoro and Sanji struck him furiously.

"If you don't know how to talk, then shut your mouth first."

After saying that, Sanji stuffed a meat-covered bone into Luffy's mouth.

Nami's gaze wandered, as though she was remembering something.

After a while, she smiled.

"Anyway, it's not far from my home. Let's all go have a meal together."

As she spoke, she looked at Can Yue. Fidgeting with her hands before her chest, her face slightly red, she asked,

"Is that okay?"

At the sight of this, Can Yue broke out in goosebumps. His expression stiffened.

A moment later, Nami burst out laughing.

"Can Yue, you're so innocent. Hahahaha."

Then Nami felt a stream of pitch-black air pressing down on her.

Every pore on Nami's body stood on end. She stuck out her tongue and said, "My mistake!"

Seeing that Nami was in good spirits and showed no signs of any stress reaction,

everyone finally relaxed as well.

Led by Nami,

the Straw Hat Crew—five men, one woman, one dog, plus two unofficial members—

headed together toward Nami's house behind the village.

At that moment, a fish head suddenly emerged from the water a hundred meters behind the Going Merry.

It belonged to a purple Fish-Man.

He looked at the group ahead and muttered slowly.

"Nami came back with members of a pirate crew.

Something's wrong. I have to report this to Big Brother Arlong."